Doctor Who Adventures - Issue 157

The cover and info on this week's edition of Doctor Who Adventures magazine: 

RIVER RETURNS 
Remember River Song, the Tenth Doctor’s mysterious friend? She’s coming back! Alex Kingston, who plays her, tells Doctor Who Adventures all about it.

This week’s story guide is about the animated episode of Doctor Who: Dreamland.

Find you what happens and who’s who, in the adventure that sees the Doctor discover aliens at a secret military base.

All this, and…
· Free Doctor Who stickers
· Sontaran quiz
· The new series countdown begins!
· Subscription offer - subscribe today and save over 40%.

Issue 157 of Doctor Who Adventures magazine is on sale from today at all good newsagents until 17th March priced £2.10 per copy. In other news: Nikki Wilson, producer on The Sarah Jane Adventures has confirmed one of fourth series' story titles as (highlight to reveal) The Nightmare Man and that half of series five is to be filmed along with series four.

Doctor Who DVD Files - Issue 31

The cover and info on this fortnight's edition of Doctor Who DVD Files magazine:

IN ISSUE 31...

Genesis of the Daleks
Old Sonic Screwdriver
Racnoss Empress
Friends and Foes
Kamelion
Big Top Terror
Reinette
The Black Guardian
Reimagining the Daleks - interview with writer Rob Shearman

Issue 31 of Doctor Who DVD Files magazine is on sale from today at all good newsagents until 23rd March priced £6.99 per copy.

Matt Smith & Karen Gillan to Tour the UK!

The BBC Press Office has confirmed that Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, stars of the new upcoming series of Doctor Who, are set to tour the UK to help promote the new 13-episode-long series, read on for further details:

Belfast, Inverness, Sunderland, Salford, Northampton
Doctor Who will begin an exciting national tour across the UK in March, introducing the new Doctor to fans of the series in five different locations spanning the length and breadth of the British Isles.

The tour will introduce the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith, and his Companion, Karen Gillan, to fans of the BBC One show and offer them a unique chance to meet the stars.

Each location will also host a regional premiere of episode one, The Eleventh Hour, for local children, working alongside BBC Outreach to enable kids to get a first look at the new Doctor in action.

Matt and Karen will travel around the UK on a specially themed Doctor Who tour bus, featuring the new Tardis logo and iconic imagery.

BBC Outreach proactively takes the BBC into specific communities and sections of society, and has been integral in organising and supporting the tour.

The focus of the tour is to reach relatively under-served communities by the BBC.

The Doctor's maiden voyage will commence on 29th March in Belfast, and then travel to Karen Gillan's home town, Inverness, for a screening on 30th March.

The bus will then move on to Sunderland that afternoon and Salford on Wednesday 31st March before finishing later that day in Northampton - Matt Smith's hometown.

Following the tour, from 1st to 3rd April, the BBC will also hold events for three days at selected BBC Big Screens across the UK giving Doctor Who fans in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Plymouth and Swansea the chance to interact directly with the show in their home towns.

The events will feature exclusive footage - including the chance to see the Doctor Who trailer in 3D - and giveaways, and fans can also get their photo taken tumbling through the giant vortex.

Visitors will be able to meet some of the scariest monsters that have had viewers watching from behind their sofa for generations as well.

Piers Wenger, executive producer and head of drama, BBC Wales, said: "This is a great opportunity for the new Doctor and his Companion to interface directly with the people who matter most to Doctor Who: the fans!".

"The chance to visit them in their hometowns will ensure that the 11th Doctor's maiden voyage is an utterly magical one."

Alec McGivan, Head of BBC Outreach, added: "Outreach is all about getting face to face with people so they can get involved and experience the BBC in a different and exciting way - we're delighted to be able to take one of the BBC's best loved brands out to its audience."

The tour begins on 29th March in Belfast. Doctor Who returns this Easter to BBC One and BBC HD.

Doctor Who: First Doctor Figure - FB Exclusive

Character Options have revealed yet another classic Doctor Who figure - exclusive to Forbidden Planet:

First Doctor Figure with Cane 
School teachers Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton become intrigued by one of their pupils, Susan Foreman, and visit her home address - a junkyard at 76 Totter’s Lane - where they meet her grandfather, the Doctor. The Doctor and Susan are aliens who travel through time and space in their ship, the Tardis, which looks like an ordinary police box but actually houses a huge gleaming control room. The Tardis takes them all to a Palaeolithic landscape where they encounter a tribe that has lost the secret of fire.

This exclusive 1st Doctor from Underground Toys presents the 1st Doctor William Hartnell in the costume he wore in the pilot episode of the series An Unearthly Child with hat, cape and longer jacket.

The figure is on sale from 10th May exclusively at Forbidden Planet stores priced £14.99 per purchase.

Doctor Who Adventures - Issue 156

The cover and info on this week's edition of Doctor Who Adventures magazine:

This week we look at the best-ever battles in Doctor Who! They all involve the scariest monsters we’ve seen in the the series. We’ve got a top 10 Judoon moments and you’d better watch out, because there’s a Graske on the loose in this week’s photo adventure! 

We also go behind the scenes to watch an amazing stunt involving the Doctor falling through the sky! All this, plus posters, puzzles and things to win. Enjoy! See you soon...

Issue 156 of Doctor Who Adventures magazine is on sale now at all good newsagents until 10th March priced £2.10 per copy.

Doctor Who Magazine - Issue 419

The cover and info on this month's edition of Doctor Who magazine:

Doctor Who’s new producers reveal more about the new series in Doctor Who Magazine issue 419!
Beth Willis and Piers Wenger, along with head writer Steven Moffat, are the new executive producers of Doctor Who. But just who are Piers and Beth? And what new challenges do they have in store for the Eleventh Doctor and Amy? DWM finds out in an exclusive interview, featuring brand new pics from the Eleventh Doctor’s first episode…

“We wanted to give the look of the series a slightly more storybook, fairy-tale feel,” reveals Piers. “It wasn’t about suddenly becoming Tim Burton, but it was a pinch of that, a pinch of Twilight, a pinch of Harry Potter - but it’s still absolutely, slapbang, mainstream Doctor Who…”

ALSO IN DWM 419…
 
FREAKS!
FREE with DWM! A brand new audio adventure to download for all readers, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Turlough and Tegan - Freakshow by Mark Morris. Mark Strickson and Toby Longworth star in this full-length story in which the Tardis crew encounter a caged menagerie of the most unusual aliens… 

THE TERROR! 
Weeping Angels! 3D trailers! And the unspeakable horror of Matt Smith wielding a burning torch! Steven Moffat reveals at least three, frankly terrifying, facts about the forthcoming series of Doctor Who in his latest unmissable Production Notes!

THE HAND!
The Doctor is dead, killed by Majenta Pryce! And the universe itself is at her mercy… Don’t miss the penultimate instalment of our latest comic strip The Crimson Hand, written by Dan McDaid with art by Martin Geraghty.

THE HOUND!
Every dog has his day - and, at long last, it’s K9’s turn! DWM goes behind the scenes of the brand new series starring the Doctor’s erstwhile companion, with exclusive interviews with the cast & crew and never-before-published pics!

THE NIGHTMARE MAN!
He was the man who thinks that Doctor Who should be “every child’s favourite nightmare!” DWM tracks down writer Donald Tosh and discovers how he helped shape the destiny of Doctor Who back in the 1960s… 

THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY’S TOMB! 
Murders! Mummies! And a mysterious message from Mars… The Fact of Fiction goes on an archaeological expedition to unearth the secrets of the ancient Egyptian Gods as it puts the fantastic Fourth Doctor story Pyramids of Mars under the spotlight!

BEYOND BELIEF! 
Just how important are Special Effects in Doctor Who - and is it possible to make a great story without them? Neil Harris investigates and comes to some controversial conclusions in You Are Not Alone!

THE BEAST!
At last! One of earliest stars of Doctor Who Magazine breaks his silence about what it was really like to meet the Doctor… Yes, the cute, furry, homicidal legend that is Beep the Meep speaks exclusively to the mag for the first (and very possibly the last) time!

PLUS!
All the latest official news, previews of the latest DVD and audio releases, merchandise reviews, prize-winning competitions and much, much more!

Issue 419 of Doctor Who magazine is on sale from today at all good newsagents until 31st March priced £4.20 per copy.

The Sarah Jane Adventures: Series 4 & 5 Confirmed!

The BBC have today officially confirmed that The Sarah Jane Adventures will return for a fourth series later this year, and that a further fifth series is soon to be put into production for broadcast in late 2011. Read the press pack below for more info:

CBBC Controller Damian Kavanagh has commissioned two new series (24 x 30-minutes) of hugely successful Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, which will see the intrepid investigative journalist and her gang of young sidekicks continue to enthral children for the foreseeable future.

Created by Russell T Davies, and featuring one of Doctor Who's most famous companions, Sarah Jane Smith, The Sarah Jane Adventures is made by BBC Cymru Wales and has been a huge hit on CBBC since its debut in 2007, with viewing figures continuing to grow year on year.

The fourth series, set to air this autumn, will again star Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane. Young actors Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra return as popular regulars Luke, Clyde and Rani.

The new adventures will feature the usual mixture of thrills, scares and fun with enemies old and new, including the terrors of the Nightmare Man, the sinister Shansheeth, the series' first visit to an alien world, and even a dangerous journey back into history.

The series will go into production in Cardiff later this month with series three producer Nikki Wilson stepping up alongside Russell T Davies as executive producer and new producer Brian Minchin joining the team.

Damian Kavanagh says: "We are thrilled to be making many more episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures!"

"It is been a huge ratings and critical success on CBBC and we hope our viewers are going to be hooked on Sarah Jane's action-packed adventures for some time to come."

BBC Wales Head of English Language Programmes, Clare Hudson, says: "The idea for The Sarah Jane Adventures sprang from the success of Doctor Who and it has since rocketed in popularity in its own right, thanks to the vision, talent and hard work of the show's brilliant cast and crew."

The fifth series will go into production in 2011 for transmission later that year.

Writers on the fourth series include Phil Ford (also co-producer), Joseph Lidster, Rupert Laight, Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman.

The Sarah Jane Adventures is a BBC Cymru Wales/ Children's BBC production.

The Sarah Jane Adventures returns to CBBC this Autumn.